Free Need You for Mine (Heroes of St. Helena) by Marina Adair Page B

have noticed the telltale sign of the fire pushing the air up. Training that could have ensured that one of the best firefighters and friends Adam had ever had would still be there.
    Giving me shit about kissing the hometown sweetheart, he silently added, knowing Trent was probably in heaven shaking his head right then thanking Jesus, Gandhi, Babe Ruth, and anyone else who would listen that his buddy had hooked up with a crazy cutie.
    “You want to know why I’m here and you’re still there? Because I didn’t let Trent’s death overshadow my life,” Roman said, making sure Adam knew they weren’t just talking about his position in the department.
    “I let it fuel me to be better, make smarter choices, grow up. Then I worked my way into a position to where, if I got cut off from incident command, I’d know, without a doubt, what to do. And I didn’t wait for the department to move me up to captain—I proved to them I was ready. That I had what it took to go from lieutenant to captain to chief and beyond.”
    “Because you’re the real deal,” Adam said. Roman was as skilled, methodical, and honorable as they came. He never hesitated and never missed important facts, even in the middle of a hell-blazer. He was captain for a reason.
    “So are you. You’re just too busy jumping from one hot spot to the next to prove it.”
    And wasn’t that the heart of the problem? By design, Adam was moving so fast he didn’t have time to think—about anything. Which had worked for him in the past, since thinking led to feelings and events he didn’t want to revisit. But maybe Roman was right, and his methods were also keeping him from moving forward.
    Suddenly, he felt as if he’d spent most of his life running only to find himself in the same place. And if he wanted to make a difference, he needed to focus and show them he was serious. About his career—and his life. If he wanted to be a lieutenant, he didn’t just have to prove he was ready for the job.
    He had to prove he was the job.

S t. Helena had three truths Harper could always count on.
    Keeping a secret was as realistic as winning the lottery without a ticket. The only person who benefited from lying was the liar—until they got caught. And when you challenged the first two, the only thing left to do was eat your weight in cookies.
    Not that Harper had lied to Chantel about dating Adam—it was more of a half truth. She and Adam had gotten hot and heavy. Once. But it was still a cookies-needed kind of week.
    Only yesterday, her favorite confection connection, the Sweet and Savory, had been closed when she’d walked by for her morning cookie fix. It was the first sign of impending doom. Then last night, Father Giuseppe stopped by the Fashion Flower to pick up the donation box for the family outreach program. Even after telling herself he was just there for the clothes, and not her repentance, Harper had handed over the box, her brand-new iPod, and every cent in her purse.
    Then promised to see him Sunday in church.
    Today, she opened a box of early-readers books that had been delivered, and on top, staring up at her in big, vintage, circa-1970s yellow letters was The Berenstain Bears and the Truth . The same book her grandmother had given her that first summer Harper had moved in. She had just turned nine, was heartbroken over her mom missing her birthday party, and devastated to learn Gloria wasn’t coming back. So when the neighbor kids had asked where her mom was, she’d lied and said she was “filming a movie in Paris with Johnny Depp.”
    To be fair, Gloria had been dating a guy named Johnny at the time who was the director of a small production of Oklahoma in Paris—Missouri. And it had sounded more exciting than the truth: her mother hadn’t loved her enough to stay.
    Harper slapped the box lid closed and shoved the books under the counter, then busied herself with organizing the antique lace bibs on the front display.
    The Fashion Flower was the